The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1887-10-29
LOUISIANA BAYOUx.
The Richest Cotton and Sugar Hearing
Ground IN the United states.

The track ran through intcrminablc
swamps Of giant expresses, magnolias
and fig trees. Their myriads of gray
trunks stood knec-high in water, open
ing in silent vistas on either side as the
train passed through. Overhead huge
vicious coils of vines knottcd these bare
columns together. II was March, but
there was no coy, tender approach Of
spring here. Nature was savage
fierce, prolific The very leaves which
in the North would have put forth
timid green burst open here like clots
of blood or an angry glare of white;
even the thickcts of saplings were hoary
as with age. Strange red and orange
birds flashed through the somber re-
cesscs; now and then huge alligator
rose out Of the plane of Shiny water,
stared ut the train with dead eyes and
plunged into it again.
They were on the border of that coast
country Of Louisiana which fronts the
Mexican gulf between Baratara and
Calcasieu bays; remarkable region.
unlike any other in North America in
its peculiar features and in the sombcr
splendor Of its scenery The cause of
its peculiarly is easily explained.
The Mississippi in Louisiana makes
huge bend westward in the shape of
bow or crescent, the upper point
being at Vicksburg, the lower at New
Orleans, the middle of the arc running
nearly parallel with the distant coast.
To the northwest of this arc n stretch
Of pine-barrcns. intcrsccted by ranges
of low rolling hills, and broken by
numbcrlcss lakes and ponds. extends
into Texas Through these the heavy
blood-colorGd flood of the Red river
urges its way, carrying with it all
lesser watcr-courscs. and emptying it.
self into the Mississippi near the high
est point Of this bow or dctour. Its
red stain tinges the water and the
banks of all the outlets of the great
river thereafter to the Gulf.
With this last great influx (holding
all the streams in the Texan llanos
and the mountains of Mexico). the
Mississippi now receives the whole
drainage of the continent between the
Rocky and Appalachian ranges. Every
spring and rainfall in that vast terri
tory helps to swell its tremendous tide
below Bayou Sara. Hence the flood of
water there pushes its way directly
To the sea with rcsistlcss power.
not only on its acknowledged
highway, the Mississippi. but
through the whole southern half
Of Louisiana ltlitcrally enters in and
occupies the land, forcing itself sea-
ward, not only by more than three
hundred bayouX, many of which are
mighty rivers, but by sluggish. scarce
moving streams, by a perpetual soak
ing. creeping. oozing through all the
earth. showing itself on the surface in
cOuHtlcSs lakes. ponds and enormous
dismal swamps, aud above it in inccssant
heavy rolling fogS and mists You can
not dig three feet down in all this dis
trict without reaching water
We must remember, too, that this
spongy soil has been soaking in for
ages the fat washingS II ail the rich al
luvial rivcr-bottomS on half Of the con-
tinent. No such conditions enter into
the formation of any other soil in the
world. II Louisiana can ever he drained
and rescued from the sea and the river.
her fecundty under the hot tropical
suns would be unparalleled.
As it is the parishes in this region in
clude the richest cotton. sugar and
orangc-bearing ground in the States.
The forests grow To the size cf the
woods before the flood, even the ghast-
" mpenetHblc SwampS choke with
rank life -Rsbcccd Hrrdmy DariS. ia
Hdrpcr'S Magazine.